Right Now Praise

1 Samuel 14: 1-7

Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father. And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men; And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. The forefront of the one was situate northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over against Gibeah. And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his Armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few. And his Armour bearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.

RIGHT NOW PRAISE

This is a very interesting story about how God can use us if we just trust and believe. This is a story about when the odds are great, God will deliver you the victory. God is always ready to bless us right now if we just stand on His promises. In our text, Jonathan, the son of King Saul, is a Man of Action. He saw the problem of the Philistines and how they had come against the Lord and His people. Even though there was only he and his Armour bearer, he was not afraid because he knew who was on his side. So often, when we are faced with a difficult task, we tend to forget our past God-led victories. We tend to forget who has brought us this far. We tend to forget that the battle is not our, but the Lord’s. We often forget whose hand we are in and who we belong to. Christ paid it all, all to Him I owe. Jonathan was willing to face the insurmountable odds of the Philistine people who outnumbered the army of Israel 20 –one. The fact that the odds were in the favor of the Philistines did not discourage him from wanting to defeat the enemy. So often we become discouraged by life’s events. We give up too easily. We want to quit. When we come to church and there is only the faithful few, we stop coming. My friends, we cannot become discouraged. The word says that when two or three is gathered, I am in the midst. If the Lord shows up, that is enough. If the lord is providing, that is enough. We cannot wait on others to show up. We have to continue on in this battle. Our legs may get weary, we may get a little tired, the steps we take may be getting shorter and shorter, but we must not let the few stop us from praising his Holy Name.

Jonathan was not discouraged by what others were doing. He had what is called a ‘right now’ praise. His attitude was knowing that God was there on his behalf. He didn’t listen to others but was focused on God being good. A great number of the Hebrews had deserted. Saul, the King was sitting down under a pomegranate tree. There were only 600 men left of what had been an army of 3000 soldiers. Only Saul and Jonathan had a spear because the Philistine army had defeated them so badly. They could not even find a blacksmith to make swords because the Philistine army had taken them all out of the land of Israel. They only had plowshares and axes. All hope was lost. Israel was defeated and the army was hiding from the Philistines. They had given up and were not willing to fight. Their eyes were not on the Lord, but on themselves. Often we give up when the odds seem too great. We forget the rock upon whom our faith is built. That illness that won’t go away; those children who won’t mind, the choir that just won’t get it right; the ushers who get an attitude; the church folks who don’t seem to have an ounce of love in their hearts. Even if you are the only one, you have to show up for the battle. I’ll go, if I have to go by myself.